SUSTAINABILITY Emergency preparedness

Emergency preparedness

Crisis Management Plans are in place at group, regional and site levels. Responsibilities are allocated according to the severity of the crisis as described below:

  • Crisis Management Support Team: Led by the EVP Sustainable Development and responsible for addressing "red-level" crises (i.e. an incident that is assessed to have an international impact on more than one Gold Fields region or on the Company as a whole);
  • Regional Incident Response Team: Led by the relevant Regional EVP and responsible for addressing "orange-level" incidents (i.e. an incident that has a severe impact at the local and regional level);
  • Emergency Response Team: Led by the mine VP operations and responsible for "yellow-level" emergencies (i.e. an incident that has a severe impact at a local level).

A Group-level Crisis Management Guideline defines all relevant responsibilities (including: role, profile, pre-incident responsibilities, responsibilities during an incident and post-incident responsibilities), roles (including: Team Leaders, Team Co-ordinators, Finance, Legal, Human Resources, Sustainable Development (including Community Relations), Protection Services, Risk, ICT and the Team Administrator) and crisis management facilities. In addition, each region maintains its own regional-level Crisis Management Guideline tailored to local circumstances, which are reviewed regularly.

Drills are carried out from time to time to test that the system is working. Some of these drills are externally assured to ensure that they are at the necessary standard and to improve future performance. Updates are reported quarterly to the SH&SD Committee.